Birdhouse clean-out door latch



Feb. 11, 1969 J. 1 WADE 3,426,732 BIRDHOUSE CLEANOUT vDOOR LATCH Filed Oct. 25. 1966 United States Patent O 3 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLUSURE A birdhouse which includes a hingedly mounted door for providing access to the nesting compartments of said house, and latch means for releasably securing the door in the closed condition. The latch means is defined by a leaf spring having one end secured to the iioor of the house and including a camming portion and a reverse bend portion, the latter dening a U-shaped channel which is adapted to receive the bottom door edge when Same is in the closed condition. A pair of apertures formed in the iloor, and one of said pair being disposed approximate the camming portion and the reverse bend portion, respectively, to permit said portions to move below the upper surface of the lloor member when the leaf spring is depressed. Accordingly, movement of the door from the open condition to a closed condition will cause the bottom edge of said door to engage the camming portion thus depressing said spring and moving the entrance to said channel clear of said bottom edge so that when said edge is aligned with said channel the spring is permitted to return from the depressed condition with said bottom edge releasably secured in said U-shaped channel.

This invention relates generally to birdhouses of the variety which have clean-out doors, and more particularly is concerned with a latch for the door of such birdhouses.

In U.S. Patent Re. 25,878 issued to Arthur E. Vail, Oct. 12, 1965, there is disclosed and claimed a birdhouse especially intended for martins. Martin birdhouses must be cleaned out annually because the martin migrates to the equatorial regions during the winter months and their vacated apartments usually will be occupied by nonmigratory birds which leave nests and trash in the apartments. The returning martins are readily capable of keeping away sparrows and other birds which have usurped their apartments, but will not return to their former residences unless these are clean. Since the presence of martins is highly beneficial and pleasurable, birdhouse owners have been required to perform the onerous task of cleaning house annually for the returning martins, who, while quite vigorous and energetic, balk at this one spring chore.

The patent referred to above describes sheet metal birdhouses in which the apartments are provided with hinged clean-out doors, either individually or in groups, so that the owner may clean the trash from the apartments preparatory to the arrival of the martins in the spring. The clean-out doors, whether giving access to individual or groups of apartments, are held in place by latch means which comprise projections upset from the metal floors of the tiers carrying the apartments. Reference made hereinafter to a door shall be intended to mean a swinging wall having one or several openings, each opening being the entrance to a single apartment or nesting chamber. The chambers are separated by partitions.

When the door is swung to a closed position, it is required to ride up on the projection, bending the oor downward, the projection terminating in a slot into which the bottom edge of the door will engage as the distorted oor springs upward. In the case of single opening doors,

3,426,732 Patented Feb. 11, 1969 "ice the latch must be provided with stop means to prevent pushing the door into the apartment, while in the case of the multiple opening doors, the partitions between apartments will limit the movement of the door during closing. When opening either type of door, the oor must be pushed down, distorting the same, to enable the latching projection to be cleared by the door.

There are several disadvantages to the structure described, aside from the possibility of pushing the single compartment doors too far into their respective compartments. Pushing on the floor can sometimes result in permanent distortion so that the latches do not operate easily or may not keep the doors closed. The birdhouse may also be damaged. Since most birdhouses are assembled by their purchasers, considerable variation in the structures are to be expected, notwithstanding accuracy in manufacturing specifications, The doors may not engage the latches, or be so tightly engaged that it is difficult to operate the same.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a birdhouse clean-out door latch which will overcome all of the above problems while being economical to manufacture and incorporate in the birdhouse.

Other objects and advantages will occur to those skilled in this art as a description of the invention proceeds in connection with the attached drawing of a preferred embodiment in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a birdhouse with cleanout doors having latches incorporated therein in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of a latch of the construction of the invention installed on a oor of a tier.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken generally along the line 3 3 of FIG. l and in the direction indicated showing the latch of the invention in use.

In FIG. 1 there is illustrated a sheet metal birdhouse -10 whose design is capable of wide variation. The particular birdhouseshown here has two tiers of apartments with four such apartments on each tier. T he illustration shows a roof 12, an upper oor 14, a lower floor 16, and a post 18 supporting the house. There is a door on each side of the house for each tier, so that`each door has an offset entrance way leading to a corner apartment. Thus there are shown doors 20, 22, 24 and 26, each having an entrance way 28, 30, 32 and 34, respectively.

Since access to all four apartments on any tier can be had through any pair of doors located opposite each other, only doors 22 and 26 are provided with opening means. Thus, doors 22 and 26 are hinged at their upper edges in any suitable manner (not shown). Adjacent doors 20 and 24 are permanently aixed and do not open. The doors opposite doors l22 and 26 (not shown) are adapted to be opened in the same manner as said illustrated doors 22 and 26, thus providing access to the apartments opposite and behind those exposed by opening said doors 22 and 26. 'The door 26 has a portion broken away and is shown swung open to expose the interior of the house 10 behind the door 26.

In this particular construction of the apartments, which is not the subject matter of the invention herein, there is a generally cruciform egg-crate central structure, one wall of the lower tier structure being seen at 36 dividing each tier into four apartments. Each wall thus covers the front of one apartment and the lateral side of another. -In the structure illustrated, a latch 40 constructed in accordance with the invention is installed to engage each of a pair of opposite walls at the location where said wall covers the lateral side of an apartment.

FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate the latch 40 best. The floor 16 has a pair of spaced rectangular cut-outs or apertures 42 and 44 for each latch. The latch 40 is bent from a simple strip of spring metal, such as tempered steel, Phosphor bronze or the like. There is an elongate leaf portion 46 the end of which is riveted to the floor 16 at 48 on the top of the floor. This portion of the latch will extend into the interior of the apartment. The leaf portion 46 is biased upward so that its end remote from the riveted connection 48 is spaced above the `door. At this point there is a right angle bend 50 terminating at approximately the oor level or slightly above the floor level in a reverse bend 52. The forward portion of the resulting l'U-shaped channel or slot conguration extends upward about half the height of the rear portion terminating at 56. From this slot configuration, which may be designated generally 58, the strip of metal forming the latch extends forward on a plateau 60 which connects with a downwardly sloping ramp 62 that enters the opening 44 and terminates forward of the opening, to the right in FIG. 3, at 64. The latch 40 may be pressed downward until the plateau 60 lies practically at against the upper surface of the floor 16 because in such movement the reverse bend forming the slot condiguration 58 is aligned with the slot 42 and enters the same while the ramp 62 moves downward in its slot 44.

In FIG. 3 the depressed condition of the latch 60 is shown in dashed lines. If a door such as 22 is moved from its position shown in dashed lines in FIG. 3 to its position shown in solid lines, as its bottom edge engages the ramp 62, the camming action will depress the latch and the door edge will ride along the ramp 62 and then the plateau 60. When it reaches the edge 56 it will be in alignment With the slot configuration 58 and the latch will spring upward, locking the door in place. The rear wall of the slot conguration 58 being higher than the front Wall, it serves as stop -means to limit the movement of the door 22 and prevent its being pushed into the apartment. The door is accurately positioned in closed condition by this latch.

To open the door, one merely places a finger on the plateau portion 60 and presses the latch downward sufcient to enable the bottom edge of the wall 22 to clear the bend 56. The 'wall is readily swung forward by engaging a linger of the other hand into the entrance way 30 and pulling the door open.

Wlhat it is desired to be secured by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In combination, a birdhouse having at least one clean-out door and having a support for hingedly mounting said door for swinging movement, `a floor member, a door providing access to the interior of said house and defining an outer wall portion thereof when in the closed condition, and latch means for releasably securing the door in its closed condition, said latch means comprising; a leaf spring having at least one end thereof secured to the floor member and presenting a camming surface to the upper surface of the floor member when said spring is in an undepressed condition, said camming portion being in the path of the bottom door edge when said door is swinging to said closed position, and a reverse bend portion in the leaf spring between the ends thereof delining a U-shaped channel, said channel being aligned with the plane of said door when said door is in the closed condition and having an entrance thereto so disposed as to enable the engagement of the bottom door edge in said channel, and a pair of apertures in said floor member in the area of said leaf spring, one aperture being located approximate the reverse bend portion and the other located `approximate the camming portion to permit said portions to move below the upper surface of the floor member when the leaf spring is depressed, whereby movement of the door from the opened condition to the closed condition will cause the bottom door edge to engage the earnming portion thus depressing said spring and moving the entrance to said channel clear of said bottom edge, so that when said edge is aligned with said U-shaped channel the spring is permitted to return from the depressed condition with said bottom edge releasably engaged in said channel.

2. The combination as defined in claim 1 wherein the U-shaped channel includes a pair of opposed wall portions, the wall portion disposed furthest from said camming portion extending above the channel entrance and said other wall portion to define a stop against which the door Will engage when the spring is in the depressed condition, said engagement thereby limiting the inward movement of the door and aligning the bottom edge thereof with the channel entrance.

3. 'Ilhe combination as defined in claim 1 wherein the leaf spring includes a plateau segment disposed between the eamrning portion and the reverse bend portion, said plateau segment facilitating manual depression of the leaf spring when it is desired to disengage the bottom door edge from the channel in preparation for movement of the door from the closed to the open condition.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 241,087 5/1881 St. Mary l19-99 3,111,934 11/1963 Vail 119-23 FOREIGN PATENTS 88,741 3/ 1937 Sweden.

HUGH R. CHAMBLEE, Primary Examiner. 

